Page 19 of Force At Third

“You’ll be bringing in the big bucks then.”

“Fuck the money. I just hate trusting these fucks with our lives.”

I force out a laugh. “One hard landing, and you?—”

“Hard, my ass! We almost died,” he grumbles.

Deciding not to rile him up too much before he boards the plan, I simply say, “Chat soon.”

“Chat soon.” He ends the call.

I stand up from the desk in the guest/pool house where I’ve been all morning and stretch.

Seconds later, my phone rings, and I hit accept. “Hey, Moms.”

“Zane, get in touch?” Annie asks.

“Yeah, he was at LAX.”

“This, we know. We get zapped with notifications whenever you are on the move,” Mom says.

“I’m sorry,” I say honestly.

“Don’t be sorry, honey girl. We’re just happy to know where the two of you are. We just wish they had this when you were in your teens,” Mom says, as if she were joking.

“Oh, please. You knew where we were then, too.” I laugh. “School, church, or the ballfield.”

The brief silence is the reminder that I put my foot in it.

“Shit.”

Clearly, Annie catches on. “Sweetheart, Zane has forgiven me.”

I wouldn’t say I like this awkwardness, but I hate that she still feels like he blamed her even for a minute.

“It was never about him forgiving you.”

“She knows that,” Mom says, in a way I can imagine is comforting to Annie, who left Marks’ father then couldn’t get custody of him and had to move to Kansas with her family to start over. Marks was ten. She put herself through nursing school and moved back less than three years later. He had little to do with her because his father had convinced him that she’d left them. It took two years before he would stay the night at her place, and he resented her for disrupting his life. Two years later, he realized she never wanted to leave him.

I change the subject. “If you haven’t, check out CeCe’s house. Look it up on Google Maps; it’s a gorgeous Victorian.”

“Oh, we know.” Annie laughs. “Your mother is obsessed with it.”

“Gilmore vibes,” I state.

“Totally,” Mom agrees. “Love you. Be safe, okay?”

“I’m perfectly safe, and so is Zane. We’ll be back to chasing cheaters in no time,” I assure them before ending the call.

* * *

When the security app alerts me of movement outside, I see Danny walking into the carriage house, used as a garage. Just by the way he’s moving, I know he’s pissed.

I tap his name on my screen and hit call.

He answers, “York.”

That’s it, just York.

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